Top tips for your time in Cannes

If, like many companies, marketing materials are at the top of your MIPIM priority list, or even if you’ve already started to get something prepared, we’ve put together several considerations, from concepts right through to logistics, to ensure that the marketing box is ticked.

Hard copies

A brochure or flyer introducing your company and the services you offer is a simple, straightforward way of disseminating information about your company. Make sure that someone creative has had input to ensure that it meets your brand guidelines and looks good, and that the layout and content are accessible and easy to follow.

Most importantly, make it stand out! Yours will not be the only brochure that the recipient will receive and you will not be the only person on their meetings agenda for that day. Anything that you hand out should have a clear purpose, underpin the impression you want to make and support with what you are saying. The time and cost that is invested should be justified by what you achieve from doing it.

And remember that people don’t want to carry around large, heavy brochures. Ideally, make sure it fits into a jacket pocket.

Tech

Given that the baggage allowance isn’t the most forgiving on EasyJet flights, you might want to consider using electronic material such as PowerPoints and PDFs. You can store as many of these as you like on a laptop or, more portable still, an iPad, opening them with Keynote or Adobe. These can then be tailored depending on whom you are meeting and aren’t reliant on the venue having Wi-Fi.

Adobe Slate is handy if you have some strong images alongside short and simple messages to create a visual aid, which can then be expanded on further through discussion.

Consider creating a digital portfolio of projects you have worked on with high-quality photographs. Projects are great talking points and demonstrate what your business can deliver.

The Google My Business app is great if you already have a Google Business account with plenty of reviews, since third party endorsement is key to evidencing the standard of your services.

Likewise, Mention is a useful app if you want to show what other people are saying about your business on social media or online. It shows that people are talking about you and that your company is being recognised for the work that it is doing. One thing to bear in mind is that this is a paid-for app, but you do get a 14-day trial to test the waters.

Last but not least, remember to also use social media as a marketing and social tool for MIPIM. We’ll touch on this further in a later post.

Giveaways

Many of us have swathes of branded pens, USBs, and lanyards stored away in our desk drawers from numerous conferences that we have attended over the years, but the companies that gave us these things often do not stick in our minds. This can be because they haven’t made a link between the object and their company messaging.

So get creative. Think about what you are saying through what you are giving. And think small or useful. Giveaways will be put in pockets and carried around, then, if they don’t get lost along the Croisette, they will have to pass the aforementioned EasyJet baggage allowance test.

A few logistical points

If you are considering getting brochures printed, make sure you account for the graphic design process, print turnaround times, delivery and shipping to Cannes. The cut off point for shipping is in about a month.

If you do ship marketing material, bear in mind that business cards can take up valuable space and weight in your suitcase too. We find it easier to ship ours prior to flying.

Whatever you decide to do, bear in mind the purpose, the message you want to convey and the value you want to get from anything you produce. That will certainly point you in the right direction.